York school district buys 130 acres for future school

Calling it a “steal” and a “no-brainer,” the York school board voted Monday to spend $625,000 to purchase about 130 acres east of York for a future school site.

The future school site — which was offered to the school district two years ago at a much steeper price of $1.7 million — is located off Ernest Road, between S.C. 5 and S.C. 161, in York’s most heavily populated and fastest-growing area.

“This is a steal. This is a no-brainer,” board chairman Chris Revels said Monday, after the board voted unanimously and with little discussion to purchase the property.

“Whether we hold the property for growth or we eventually use it as an investment, it’s a no-brainer,” Revels said.

The property is being sold by Provident Community BankShares, which took over the property after plans to use it for a housing development fell through, school officials said. The bank just wanted to get its money out of the property, school officials said.

Superintendent Vernon Prosser told school board members the money to purchase the land will include $593,000 in delinquent debt service taxes recently paid to the school district, a one-time source of revenue. The rest of the money will come from the capital projects budget, he said.

Those revenue sources must be spent on building schools or buying land, Prosser said. None of the revenue for the land purchase will come from the school operating budget, he said.

Prosser said the land purchase puts the school district in a good position for future growth. He said there are no immediate plans to build another school, but the